The Widows of Culloden () is the twenty-eighth collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, released for the Autumn/Winter 2006 season of his eponymous fashion house. It was inspired by his Scottish ancestry and is regarded as one of his most autobiographical collections. It is named for the women widowed by the Battle of Culloden (1746), often seen as a major conflict between Scotland and England. Widows makes extensive use of the McQueen family tartan and traditional gamekeeper's tweeds, as well as other elements taken from Highland dress. Historical elements reflected the fashion of the late Victorian era and the 1950s.
The collection's runway show was staged on 3 March 2006 during Paris Fashion Week. It was dedicated to Isabella Blow, McQueen's friend and muse. The show marked a return to theatricality for McQueen, whose shows in the preceding two seasons had been comparatively conventional. Widows was presented on a square stage with a glass pyramid at its centre. Fifty-one ensembles were presented across roughly three phases, ending with a Pepper's ghost illusion of English model Kate Moss projected within the glass pyramid.
Critical response was positive, especially towards McQueen's tailoring and the collection's balance of artistry and commercial practicality. The show is regarded as one of McQueen's best, with the illusion of Kate Moss viewed as its highlight. Ensembles from Widows are held by various museums and have appeared in exhibitions such as the McQueen retrospective Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. The Widows of Culloden collection and show, especially the Kate Moss illusion, have been extensively analysed, especially as an exploration of gothic literature in fashion. Widows is frequently discussed with McQueen's first Scottish-themed collection, Highland Rape (Autumn/Winter 1995), whose runway show was highly debated in the fashion world.
Background
British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was known for his imaginative, sometimes controversial designs, and dramatic fashion shows. Over the course of his career, which lasted from 1992 until his death in 2010, he explored a broad range of ideas and themes, particularly sexuality, death, violence, romanticism, and historicism. He began as an apprentice on Savile Row, earning a reputation as an expert tailor; later he learned dressmaking as head designer for French fashion house Givenchy.
Although he was born in England, McQueen's father was of Scottish descent. His mother was fascinated with this family history, an interest she passed on to McQueen early in his childhood. McQueen maintained an interest in contentious periods of Scottish history, especially instances of Scottish–English conflict such as the Jacobite risings and the Highland Clearances. He resented the romanticisation of Scotland (sometimes called tartanry), particularly by other British fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood, and drew inspiration from Scottish resistance to English domination.
McQueen's first Scotland-inspired collection was the controversial Highland Rape (Autumn/Winter 1995), which marked his first use of the red, black, and yellow McQueen clan tartan. The collection became known for its runway show, which featured models walking unsteadily down the runway in torn and bloody clothing. Intended as a reference to what McQueen described as "England's rape of Scotland", the collection was described by many British fashion critics as misogynistic, a characterisation to which McQueen consistently objected. American journalists tended to be more positive about the collection: Amy Spindler of The New York Times called it "a collection packed with restless, rousing ideas, by far the best of the London season." In retrospect, Highland Rape is considered to be the launching point of McQueen's fame, and has been credited with leading to his appointment as at Givenchy. Shortly before his contract there ended, he sold 51% of his own label to the Gucci Group, retaining creative control.
Concept and collection
The Widows of Culloden (Autumn/Winter 2006) is the twenty-eighth womenswear collection designed by McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. McQueen spoke of wanting to "show a more poetic side" of his work with the collection. The collection was inspired by McQueen's Scottish ancestry, his love for the natural world, and Shakespeare's Scottish play Macbeth. Its name comes from the women who were widowed following the Battle of Culloden (1746). This engagement marked the defeat of the Jacobite rising of 1745, in which Charles Edward Stuart raised a Scots Jacobite army and attempted to regain the British throne. The battle led to British efforts to dismantle the Scottish clan system and ban the wearing of tartan, and has historically been mythologized as a conflict between Scotland and England.
Widows features the return of many of McQueen's signature elements: sharp tailoring, altered silhouettes, and a dark yet romantic atmosphere; he personally created most patterns for the collection. Multiple authors described it as something of a greatest hits collection for the designer. Soft dresses and flowing evening gowns accompanied McQueen's typical tailored suits and dresses. The light, ethereal aspect of many of the dresses is credited to McQueen's time at Givenchy, where he learned , the dressmaking side of .
Many elements from the collection were taken directly from or referred to traditional Highland dress, both upper- and lower-class. The primary fabrics used were tartan and tweed; Aran knit, brocade, black velvet, organza, and chiffon also featured in several ensembles. Some garments, especially those made with chiffon, were torn or left with unfinished seams. Other items were artificially aged to create the appearance of having been worn. As in Highland Rape, the tartan used in the collection is the red, yellow, and black McQueen family tartan, woven in a historic mill in Lochcarron, Scotland. Several of the tartan garments included aspects of the traditional , a large piece of fabric which is wrapped around the body and held by a belt, and the kilt, a knee-length wraparound skirt. Other uses of tartan were non-traditional, such as tailored jackets and suits.
The extensive use of tweed references the garb of traditional Scottish gamekeepers. Tweed production is indigenous to Scotland, especially in the Scottish Isles. In the 1840s, the fabric acquired an association with high-class leisure, after the British nobility began taking hunting trips to Scottish estates and adopting the tweed worn by locals and estate staff. The tweed also plays on McQueen's Autumn/Winter 2005 collection, which made similarly heavy use of the fabric.
Hunting and gamekeeping is also referenced in the use of animal fur and items made from the feathers and wings of game birds. Usage of animal parts, both natural and imitation, was typical for McQueen; he was especially partial to the symbolism associated with birds. The show's headpieces made particular use of avian elements. They were created by Irish-born milliner Philip Treacy, a frequent collaborator of McQueen's; they had been introduced by McQueen's friend and muse Isabella Blow. Some authors interpreted their complexity and emphasis on birds as a gesture toward Blow, who loved elaborate headwear and the sport of falconry. Other authors read them as an allusion to bird-women in mythology; author Katharine Gleason wrote that the headdresses imparted a "mythic quality" to the models.
Many ensembles incorporated historical elements and allusions to other designers. Fashion historian Judith Watt noted references to the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as the S-bend silhouette common in the fashion of the 1870s and 1880s. The use of wasp waists, bustles, close tailoring, and belted jackets can be seen as a reference to Victorian and 1950s fashion. Some designs alluded to the military uniforms of World War II, and model Spitfire planes were repurposed as hair accessories. The winged headpieces referenced a series of winged headdresses made by Italian couturier Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1930s. Several of the evening gowns took inspiration from a dress designed in 1987 by fellow British designer John Galliano, nicknamed the "shellfish dress" for its layers of white organza ruffles that resembled stacked clamshells. McQueen had long admired and sought to emulate the complicated construction of the original.
Runway show Production details The runway show for The Widows of Culloden was staged on 3 March 2006 at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, and was dedicated to Isabella Blow. The invitations for the Widows show were black and white, with an 1872 photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron and the title of the show rendered in . Seating was so limited that the show was actually staged twice in one night to accommodate all the guests. Widows marked a return to theatricality for McQueen, whose shows in the preceding two seasons – The Man Who Knew Too Much (Autumn/Winter 2005) and Neptune (Spring/Summer 2006) – had been comparatively conventional.
McQueen typically worked with a consistent creative team for his shows, and Widows was no exception. McQueen's creative director Katy England was responsible for the show's overall styling, Eugene Souleiman styled hair, and Charlotte Tilbury styled make-up, which was kept minimal and neutrally toned. Gainsbury & Whiting oversaw production, and John Gosling was responsible for soundtrack design. Joseph Bennett returned to handle set design.
Gosling's soundtrack incorporates songs from the 1993 film The Piano, scored by Michael Nyman; Scottish bagpipes and drums, various punk rock tracks, and a sound effect of howling wind. McQueen intended to use a track commissioned from Nyman for the finale, but dropped it in favour of a song from the soundtrack of the 1993 film Schindler's List. Scottish historian Murray Pittock wrote that the use of the Schindler's List song "suggested an analogy between Culloden and the Holocaust".
Catwalk presentation
Audience members entered the space through a large glass pyramid. Seats were arranged around a square stage of rough wood, reminiscent of the wooden stage in his collection No. 13 (Spring/Summer 1999). Another glass pyramid was placed in the centre of the square, leaving a catwalk in which the models walked counter-clockwise. In contrast to Highland Rape, when the models staggered or stalked angrily down the runway, the models in Widows moved in a stoic, upright manner which Gleason described as "the attitude of warrior princesses".
Widows of Culloden comprised fifty-one ensembles across three broad phases, each look worn by a different model. The show opened with dresses, sweaters, and tailored suits in tweeds, Aran knits, and brocades of muted neutral shades. The next phase comprised dark-coloured outfits with a focus on tartan and black leather, followed by a series of black evening gowns sometimes taken as mourning dresses. The final looks were a set of lighter-coloured gowns, some of which were worn with frock coats. The show closed with a Pepper's ghost illusion within the glass pyramid, featuring a life-sized projection of Kate Moss, an English model and friend of McQueen's, wearing a billowing chiffon dress. It was the first fashion show to employ this kind of illusory effect. After the illusion ended, as a curtain call, all the models walked the runway in a parade to the Donna Summer song "Last Dance" (1978), followed by McQueen.
Significant ensembles